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BALLOT SHADOW BOXING
Memories fade but still people remember Florida and Ohio with anger, frustration
and renewed determination not to let the Repugs diminish their votes again.
Still, the people haven't figured out how to take
control of elections from the politicians.
Just recently the people of Iraq, under the tutelage of the Bushies, held their second trip to the polls to answer the question, "Shall we accept the new Constitution?" The ink was hardly dry on their fingers before examples of ballot box stuffing emerged. At last Bush has proof that he has brought American Democracy to the underprivileged Iraqi nation. Under Saddam, the dictator, voter participation was 100%; under Bush it was over 100% in several areas. Perhaps the total depends on how many Iraqi are still alive to vote after the compassionate war to liberate them from a cruel dictator, electricity, water, foreign troops and sewage disposal. Or it may be that troops surrounding the voting places outnumbered the voters and made the math difficult. But the important thing, Bush tells the world, is that they voted despite the danger of bombers or snipers because they wanted freedom so much. Iraqis interviewed mostly agreed that they wanted freedom but mostly from American troops and intervention. They want to fix their own country now using their own oil. Most Americans want to give it to them and urge the withdrawal of their daughters and sons. They are beginning to begrudge their taxes going to the bottomless pit of shoring up the Iraqi/Bush/Haliburton puppet government. Some Americans are already wondering if they can form their own militias to surround the polling places here in the U.S. to make them safe for the voters; militias would also provide daycare on site and enforce the use of voting methods now reserved only for the affluent areas. There is a dawning realization that massive voter reforms must be taken if the count is to be fair. Diebold voting machines especially must be reconfigured by non partisan technicians to accurately record totals. If America can send trillion$ to Iraq, surely it can learn to spend what it takes on making voting not only fair and balanced but reflective of the will of the people instead of the majority Party. Along with voting reform the Democrats must present their plans to heal this country after the damage done by Bush. They cannot just sit back and take it for granted that the Planegate scandals will give them the election -- think John McCain just waiting in the wings to smash and grab votes right out of the Democratic base!. 2005-43 Copyright 2005 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: gapperserve@peoplepc.com. G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M |